SHERYL UBELACKER

TORONTO (CP) - The gulf between rich and poor in Canada has continued to widen, with recent immigrants, aboriginals and single-parent families at the greatest risk of living in poverty, a Statistics Canada report suggests.

The report, released Wednesday, examined census data in 27 major Canadian cities from 1980 to 2000. It showed that the top 10 per cent of the country's wealthiest families had a substantial gain in pre-tax income - to an annual average of $131,000 in 2000 from $111,400 in 1980.

That growth contrasts sharply with that for Canada's poorest 10 per cent of families, who saw average income rise just $800 - to $21,700 in 2000 from $20,900 two decades earlier.